Lost Blood
by Iphelinda
Summary: Ryou Bakura has just turned 17 and it is time to face his destiny as the sennen ring master. On the night of the next full moon, Yugi Motou must fight the hardest battle of his life, but he will lose more than he ever thought he had. M for violence
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Yugi, Joey, Tristan and Tea spent stumbled along the pavement on the way to school, their eyes heavy and full of sleep. Summer had ended and it was the second day of the new school term. The summer holidays had been a challenge for the team; defeating Zork and the loss of the Pharaoh. However, in the last week of the holidays, Yugi had been contacted by Shadi and the sennen puzzle returned to him; the Pharoh did not wish to leave and so the sennen puzzle only remained in this world.

Tristan yawned loudly and Joey pushed him half-heartedly. A shout was heard from up in front, followed by footsteps. Yugi looked up to find a strange old man dressed entirely in rags charging towards him. The man threw himself at Yugi's feet and sobbed loudly.

Joey withdrew and clamped his hand over his nose and mouth. Tea did the same and Tristan, who had hay fever and couldn't smell anything, just looked at the two confused. Yugi winced and twitched his nose, trying not to be as rude as the others.

'Dude, this guy smells like super piss!' Joey commented, but was silenced by Tea slapping him the face and telling him to shut up.

'Oh great Pharaoh!' Shouted the old man. Yugi was completely taken back; this was the kind of behaviour he would expect in Egypt, but just outside Domino High school? 'Yugi Motou! He is coming! A great power that takes destroys all! He comes at the time of the next full moon, and he comes to take the Pharaoh and rule the world! Only you may defeat him, and at a great price. Be wary great master; you will lose more than you think that you have.' The old man sat back and held out his hand expectantly. Yugi looked at it confused.

'Come on Yoog, this guy's lost it.' Joey said trying to push Yugi onward.

'No, Joey, how did he know my name? What if he's telling the truth?' Yugi began to panic. The old man sighed and made the gesture of money with his left hand while holding out his right.

'Oh, right.' Yugi said and placed a few small coins, enough for some food, into the old man's hand. The man grinned and shuffled away to the nearest off-license to buy alcohol.

Tea tutted and put her arm over her Yugi, her boyfriend's, shoulders.

'It's ok. It was just some crazy guy. Nothing to worry about.' She soothed. Yugi looked up into her eyes and smiled.

'Yeah.' He agreed and they continued the next 100 metres to the school gates.

'Hey, is that Bakura?' Exclaimed Joey.

'Yeah, it is… Hey! Bakura!' Yugi shouted waving wildly. Bakura didn't look up and continued walking into school. Yugi let his hand drop slowly to his side.

'Hey, you reckon he's still pissed at us for locking him in the cupboard the other day?' Joked Tristan, nudging Joey. Joey laughed.

'You guys did what?' Yugi cried, looking up at Joey and Tristan horrified. Even Tea was laughing.

'Come on Yoog, he seriously deserves it. He's being such a prick, ever since we got back from Egypt he's been moping around.' Joey said.

'Yeah, maybe you're right. But there has to be a reason for it. Maybe he just didn't want to go home?' Yugi replied.

'He was so much cooler with an evil spirit inside of him. I mean then he was interesting, now he's just… Bakura, the albino, English twat.' Tristan laughed.

'Hey, I heard his uncle got back from a year's vacation the other day. That might be what's annoying Bakura.' Tea suggested.

'Yeah. Maybe.' Muttered Yugi.

The bell rang and lessons begun.

Yugi wasn't concentrating for the entirety of the day; he was still slightly nervous after this morning's antics. Maths, the final lesson of the day, crept like a snail across sticky toffee, painfully slowly. Yugi played with a pencil on the desk, deep in thought. Opposite him, next to the window sat Bakura, deep at work and getting through the sums on the paper before him faster than anyone else. Joey was at the other desk next to Yugi and was leaning back on his chair, not bothering to do the work. Tea, in front of Yugi, was playing with her hair, unable to work out the answer to the questions. And Tristan, behind Yugi, was completely stuck and feverishly chewing the end of his pencil trying to think of how to approach the very first question.

Yugi's pencil dropped to the desk, where he picked it up and dropped it again. He was bored. Joey leaned towards him and jabbed him in the ribs.

'What's up?' he asked.

'Full moon…' whispered Yugi in reply 'That's in three days time…'

Joey sighed 'Oh Yugi, forget about it.'

'Oi! You two at the back! Wheeler and Motou! Stop talking' Shouted the teacher. Yugi blushed and Joey giggled.

The teacher looked up again, 'Is there something bothering you Bakura?' he snapped.

Yugi hadn't even noticed that the scratching of Bakura's pencil on the paper had stopped. He turned his bored attention to the boy sitting next to him. Bakura was gripping the pencil really tightly, the other arm was held across his chest. He was shaking slightly and a sweat had broken out on his forehead.

'I… I'm fine.' He said, and looked up to face the teacher. The teacher was not convinced, but accepted it and continued with the lesson anyway. Yugi and Joey looked at Bakura, the boy was breathing heavily and leaning on his desk. His knuckles were white from gripping the pencil and he looked really unwell.

'Bakura… hey, Bakura' whispered Yugi, reaching out to pat him on the shoulder to get his attention.

'Mister Motou, I have told you once already could you please…' The teacher started.

'Please Teach…' Joey interrupted, 'But I don't think Bakura's very well.'

The teacher's eyes grew wide and he strode to the back of the classroom to where Bakura was sitting. He knelt in front of the desk and placed his hand on the student's shoulder.

'Bakura… are you ok?' he asked tentatively.

All eyes were on the back of the classroom. Bakura was shaking violently by now and the desk was clattering against the floor as a result.

The teacher stood up.

'Class dismissed.' He announced, and then turned to Yugi and Joey. 'Except for you two. I need to know exactly what happened. Tea, could you go and fetch the school nurse please?' Tea hurried out of the classroom, glancing back across the now empty desks to smile at Yugi, who smiled and waved back. She blew him a kiss, and he mimed catching it and putting it in his wallet.

'Mister Motou! Please! Could I have your attention?' The teacher commanded.

'Sorry' Yugi mumbled and turned to face the teacher.

'What happened over here?' the teacher asked, his voice commanding.

'I don't know… I… he was just shaking…' Yugi stuttered.

Joey groaned.

'Teach, we don't know what's going on, could we please leave?'

The teacher stared at Joey angrily.

'Well, with the way you've been treating Bakura over the last couple of days, I think it's only fair that I keep you behind in case any of this is your fault!'

'But teach…' Joey complained.

'It's… it's not his fault.' Bakura whispered, looking up and straightening himself him slowly. 'I'm fine. Honestly.' He smiled.

'Do we need to get you to a hospital?' the teacher asked.

'No, don't worry about it. I fell down the stairs a few days ago and broke one of my ribs. I guess I was so busy with the maths today that I forgot and stretched back and caught the break by accident. I'll be fine.' Bakura smiled. The teacher look at him confused. Yugi looked concerned and Joey signalled to Tristan (who was standing outside the door) that he would be out in a minute.

Not convinced, but unable to do anything, the teacher sighed and stood up. 'Well, if you're sure. But I really do suggest that we get you to the hospital…'

Bakura smiled a big friendly smile. 'Don't worry.' He said.

The teacher left the room as Joey ran through the door to meet Tristan. Yugi began to follow, but stopped to look back at Bakura.

'Are you ok?' he asked.

'Yeah. Yeah I'm fine. Thank you Yugi.'

Not really wishing to get into a long conversation with Bakura when he could be sitting outside with Joey and Tristan or lip-locked to Tea, Yugi picked up his bags and left for his locker. Once outside he was met by Tea, Tristan and Joey. The teacher was explaining everything to the school nurse, who glanced in to Bakura, who was tidying his belongings extremely slowly, and shook her head sadly. Bakura left the room carefully, making sure not to hurt himself further and passed the small group of his old friends smiling pleasantly at them. When he'd passed, the smile fell and he clenched his teeth together to stop himself crying out. He stumbled down to his locker.

Once Bakura had passed, Joey started to grin.

'What?' asked Yugi.

'Guess what I have.' Joey teased.

'What?' asked Yugi.

Joey produced a tatty looking book bound with leather from his bag. The name on the front was faded and drawn on in black pen; 'Ryou Bakura'.

'Bakura's diary!' he laughed. Tristan clapped his hands in glee and Tea whistled. Yugi was not so impressed though,

'You should really return it.' He said.

'Yeah. I will. Later.' Joey laughed.

'You're not going to read it, are you?' Yugi asked, worried.

'Nope. Just gonna make him think I will.' Joey winked at Yugi.

The bell rang and it was time for registering out. The group headed out into their homeroom, where Bakura was already sitting at his desk.

Once the rest of the class had entered the room, and the teacher was late again, Joey took the diary and waved it in front of Bakura's face. Bakura reached out to snatch it, but gasped as his injury was caught again and retracted his arm slowly. He glared menacingly up at Joey.

'Hey! That's not fair!' shouted Yugi.

Joey smiled, 'Now lets see why you're being so moody, eh Bakura?' A crowd began to assemble around Bakura's desk. Joey opened the book and flipped through the pages.

'Joey, this is going too far!' Shouted Yugi.

But Joey was too carried away in the moment. A pile of loose papers with sketches on them fluttered to the floor and Yugi picked them up, glancing quickly at each one. 'These are good.' He smiled as he handed them back to Bakura.

Bakura stared angrily at Joey, who had settled on a page and cleared his throat.

He put on a high pitched, British accent and began to read.

'Dearest, darlingest diary…' he paused, waiting for the sniggers around him to fade. Bakura was furious; he never started a diary entry like that.

Joey continued, 'I'm not sure how much longer I can take this. If only someone would question the person behind the smile. How much longer do I have to hide myself away like this? I can't take this anymore! Why do I have to pretend that everything is fine? Please, no more. Someone save me, anyone, Grandpa, Amane, Yugi…' Joey stopped and grinned down at the silently fuming Bakura.

'Bakura loves Yugi!' he chimed. The class sniggered and Joey through the book down on Bakura's desk.

'You have no right.' Hissed Bakura.

The teacher walked in and the students moved back to their seats. Joey high-fived Tristan and Yugi was so shocked by what had just been read that he moved silently and sat at his desk.

Tristan, Joey, Tea and Yugi sat in their usual seats at the back of the room. Ryou Bakura watched them sadly. He missed being with the group, but things had changed. Times had changed. Ryou had become quieter after summer, he was a year younger than the rest, having just turned seventeen a day ago, but his intellect had put him up one schooling year.

To some extent Ryou missed the spirit of the sennen ring; it had made him interesting, brought him friends. Apparently he was more interesting when he was a half-crazed psycho trying to rule the world. Had the group ever cared about the real Ryou Bakura? Was Ryou Bakura effectively a tag-along, a sub-character as it were, whose very existence made up a variety of 'filler episodes' in the friendship between the rest?

The register was taken and the bell rang. Not wanting to be late home, Ryou ran for the door. The rest of the group were picked up outside the school by Yugi's grandpa and went to stay at Yugi's for the night.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The whole journey back to Yugi's house was punctuated with 'Bakura fancies Yugi, Bakura fancies Yugi' by Joey and Tristan. Solomon Motou seemed less than impressed by this chant, and even less impressed when he discovered that Joey had read Bakura's diary.

'You really should leave that boy alone' Solomon scolded as the group left the car to go indoors. Mr Motou noticed the worried look on his grandson's face.

'What is the matter Yugi?' He asked

'It's just… the pictures that fell out of his diary…' Yugi shuddered. 'There were pictures of me stabbing him through the heart, or of him tied and caged at my feet…'

'That's so perverted!' shouted Tea, holding Yugi tightly to her.

Solomon sighed. 'In actual fact, it's not. You've just misinterpreted the drawings.'

'How the hell can you misinterpret pictures like that?' Joey exclaimed, putting extra emphasis on the 'that'.

Solomon shook his head sadly. 'Just trust me on this one. He does not 'fancy' Yugi.' He said and walked inside to begin preparing pizza for later.

Joey and Tristan flopped onto the sofa and switched on the television. Yugi lay with his head across Tea's lap on the floor. He rolled over so he was facing the ceiling.

'I just don't get it.' He said.

'Get what?' asked Joey, not looking away from the screen.

'I just don't get Bakura. Why would he write that? Why would he draw that? And if I didn't know better, I would have said he fine! Not that he has a broken rib! What is he playing at?' Yugi exclaimed.

Joey shrugged.

'Maybe he's making it up, y'know, acting it.' Tristan said.

'Why would he do that?' asked Yugi, turning to face his friend.

'To get to you. You know how he's always acting like you two share something. Like when he was possessed, he was calling out for you to help him. No-one else.'

'Tristan has a point' commented Tea.

'Yugi…' came a familiar voice. Yugi looked down, the voice was coming from the puzzle around his neck. Yugi held it and was taken into the realm within the puzzle, the place were time on the outside did not pass and where only Yugi could hear the Pharaoh.

'Yugi. You must hear what your Grandfather says about Bakura. As the master of the sennen ring, Bakura has a strong link to you and the puzzle. In centuries gone by the ring has always been the puzzle's slave and it is my guess that this is a fact which will soon come into play here. To discuss this with you is forbidden, but I must warn you Yugi, the gauntlet has been thrown down and you have accepted. Tell your grandfather of what happened earlier in the day, before school. He will understand and explain. As for me… I am growing weaker…' The pharaoh said.

'Pharaoh… what do you mean you are growing weaker?' asked a shocked Yugi.

'There is a power at work here that is stronger than any you have ever faced. This is the last time I will be able to speak to you until it is defeated. It's up to you Yugi.' And with that, the Pharaoh disappeared and Yugi was sent back to real time.

'Guys…' he shouted in panic 'Pharaoh's gone. He's gone until I beat someone. We have to stop this!' Yugi shouted, jumping to his feet. He ran into the kitchen to find his Grandfather and told him the story of the old man in the street that morning. His Grandpa listened to him with a solemn loom on his face and when Yugi was finished he spoke very quietly and very steadily.

'Yugi, in giving that man money you accepted the challenge. This is a darker game of duel monsters than any that you have ever played before. Of this, I shall explain later. But there is something else that you need to know. Something that I have been keeping from you for a long time…'

'Yo, gramps, is the pizza ready yet?' Joey stuck his head round the door. Tristan's head followed and then Tea's.

'Yugi! You're in here! Wait… what's wrong?' She asked.

A 'bing' signalled that pizza was now ready, and Solomon Motou removed it from the oven and cut it into equal parts. Each hungry teenager was given a slice.

'I suggest that we go into the living room. I need to explain something very important.' Solomon said.

Once seated on the sofa's in the living room, all eyes were on Solomon, who shuffled nervously.

'Yugi, it would appear that I have lied to you for quite some time on the subject of your parent's death and the rest of your family moving back to Britain.' He began, and held out a single photo for Yugi to look at. Yugi looked down and gasped; it was a full family photo from 12 years ago.

'I trust you remember this, Yugi?' Solomon asked.

'I… I do… This was the night that my parents died. Grandpa, what is the relevance of this?' Yugi replied.

'Look at the people in the photo, Yugi.' Solomon said, looking sadly at his feet.

Yugi traced his finger across the photo, speaking the names as he crossed them. 'There, that's my mother, and here, my father. There's me… and you, Grandpa, in the background. I don't know who he is…There's my Aunty Sora, and Uncle Jo, he was really British, their daughter, Amane and their sons sat at the front…I… It was a birthday, wasn't it?'

Solomon nodded.

Yugi continued. 'It was my cousin's… they were triplets. I remember; they used to annoy me because they seemed to share a brain, always finishing each other's sentences and knowing what the others were thinking. There they are, sat at the front, they looked like Aunty Sora, only they were albino… hang on a second… they were albino… ' Yugi looked up at his grandfather. Solomon did not raise his head and continued to stare at his shoes.

'Mika, Daisuke and Ryou.' Solomon sighed.

Everyone gasped.

'So… Bakura's your cousin? Whoa! Yoog!' Joey said patting Yugi on the shoulder.

'Grandpa, why are you showing me this?' Yugi whispered, shocked.

Solomon pinched the bridge of his nose in distress.

'Yugi… I… there is something else you must know about that night. I need you to hear it out, I'm not proud of what I did, but it is time that you knew.'

Yugi nodded and shuffled over to sit at his grandfather's side. Joey put the pizza down beside him, where it was picked up by a hungry Tristan who finished it quickly. Joey opened his mouth as if about to complain, but then thought better of it, and Solomon Motou began his story.

' Firstly, you must understand that while in Egypt many years ago I was given the Sennen puzzle and the Sennen ring by a man named Shadi with these instructions: The Sennen puzzle would bring happiness and the ring despair. One of my grandchildren was to be given the puzzle, and one the ring. You must understand Yugi, that the power of the Sennen items overrides any law that we have in place in this country. The holders of the items must be guarded by a family member. It is the guardian's choice of how the child is raised, there are no legal restrictions. The ring must always serve the puzzle. With this in mind, you may understand the choice that I made many years ago.

It was the triplet's 5th birthday, you, Yugi, were ill, so your mother, your father and myself left early to take you to the hospital. While we were at the hospital… the… the most horrific thing happened. Young Ryou who had received a video camera in the basement was following and filming the man you do not recognise; my other son and your Uncle Mitsui. Everything I know, I know from the video that he caught. Ryou followed Mitsui into the basement, where Mitsui placed a small package, when asked what it was, Mitsui told the boy that it was a surprise, and that Ryou was to watch it. I don't know why Mitsui did it, but he planted a bomb in his sister's household and ran. The bomb exploded, but the young Ryou was shielded from the blast by the staircase. Terrified and confused, he trailed through the house calling for his mother. He found her, dead, alongside his brother Mika. Mika was still alive and Ryou held him in his arms. Sadly Mika died with Ryou still holding him, and I can only imagine that with the mental link that the triplets shared that to lose both brothers was like losing two thirds of his soul. Your mother received a phone call telling her of what had happened and her and your father returned to the house, leaving you in my care at the hospital. Once at the house your mother found Amane, badly injured but alive, and also Ryou. However, the boy was in an unstable part of the house and what was left of the ceiling collapsed, pinning Ryou down and impaling him on the light. Your mother, believing him to be dead, carried Amane back to the car and tried to drive her back to the hospital. On the journey, your car crashed, killing your parents instantly. Amane was cushioned by the baby seat in the back and survived. In knowing what you had lost, and in thinking that your cousins were dead, I chose to give you the Sennen puzzle, to try to bring you some joy. Of course Ryou survived also, and I was reluctant to give him the sennen ring two years later when he woke from a coma. Ryou required a guardian, and with his parent's dead, I used the law of the Sennen items to break Mitsui from jail and gave Ryou and Amane into his care, ordering them to send me a video telling me of how they are every year. I never let you know this Yugi because your uncle is a very evil man, and I could not let myself endanger you, even if it meant jeopardising your cousins.' Solomon finished and looked steadily down at Yugi, ashamed at what he had done.

Yugi smiled up at his grandfather, his eyes damp with tears, he put his arms around Solomon and hugged him tightly.

'I forgive you Grandpa. Thank you for choosing me over Ryou.' He whispered.

Tea was sobbing into a cushion and Tristan was finishing off the pizza. Joey was interested;

'Gramps, you got the video's Bakura sent you?' He asked.

Solomon looked up, surprised. He nodded.

'I think you need to know what your uncle is capable of, Yugi. I need you to collect Ryou from his apartment later because, as the old man said, something is coming. And only Bakura can help you stop it.'

'Wait wait wait…' Joey interrupted. 'Ok, so poor Bakura, yeah we should go get him, apologise etc, but, why can't we help Yugi?'

'Because Ryou has the Sennen ring.' Solomon replied.

Tea made an 'oooooooooooooooh' noise which suggested that she understood, Joey just looked confused and Tristan ate more pizza.

Solomon stood and collected a tape from the shelf. He inserted it into the tape player and the screen clicked and fuzzed into play.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3 – The videos

Chapter 3 – The videos

_The screen clicks and plays. A girl of about six smiles into it's depths and moves back from the camera. Her eyes are purple, like Yugi's, and her hair is a dark red like her mother's, unruly and untameable like Bakura's. Her face is badly scarred but she has a beauty that shines through nonetheless. She shuffles back and sits by her brother, a young boy in a wheelchair. He puts a hand protectively on her shoulder and smiles, it is a smile that Yugi can recognise only too well. The boy speaks; his voice is quiet and polite, laced with a soft British accent. _

'_Hello Grandpa! Ryou and Amane here! Doing fine. Uncle ignores us mostly but everything's ok!'_

_The young girl begins to talk, she sounds like her brother only is more bubbly and full of life._

'_Yeah we're all doing well Grandpa! Uncle is a funny man, he's always saying strange things about 'Kura…' _

_The boy chuckles at his apparently brand new nickname._

'_Anyway, everything is fine, oh! And Kura can walk! He looks really funny when he tries, but he's getting good at it! Soon he'll be the bestest in the world!' She smiles sweetly and plays with her hair. Ryou pats her patronisingly on the head like only an older brother can. The girl leans forwards so she's closer to the screen._

'_Anyway, there's not much going on here, it's really boring. When can we see you and Yugi? It feels like forever! Come and visit! Please?' She reaches a hand out of shot of the screen and the television goes black. The date in the corner progresses forwards by five years._

_The screen comes to life again and this time it's the boy smiling into it. He looks older, about thirteen, two years younger than when Yugi 'first' met him. _

'_Sorry Grandpa! We missed a few years! We don't have much free time; Uncle makes us do all the chores and so we're working flat out! He's gone away for a bit though, so we have just enough time to make a video.' The boy moves back and sits next to his sister._

'_Yeah, sorry Grandpa!' Amane says. 'We'll send you a video every year from now on!'_

'_Uncle isn't so bad.' Remarks Ryou, 'But he's getting worse. He gets really angry for no reason and punishes us even if we do nothing wrong! Look, Grandpa, I'm really scared that he's going to hurt Am, please can we come and move in with you and Yugi? Or at least let Am stay with you?'_

_There is the sound of key's from downstairs and the sound of a door opening. Amane rushes to hug her brother._

"_Kura… He's here! He's come home early!' She whispers, panicked._

_He comforts her 'It's ok Am, it'll be fine.'_

_The word 'Boy!' is shouted loudly and angrily up the stairs. Ryou quickly leans into the camera and whispers 'Hope everything is ok with you and Yugi, see you soon!' and then the screen turns off._

_The date in the corner progresses by a further year and the screen crackles into life._

_This time it is only the girl, and she is sobbing into the screen, her eye is blackened and bruised and there are raised voices and thud's in the background._

'_Please Grandpa. Please! Get us out of here!' Amane pleads. 'Please, he's worse, he's so much worse. 'Kura got really angry when Uncle hit me earlier and now I think Uncle is gonna kill Kura! This has gone beyond just hitting him, it's so much worse. Please Grandpa, I'm scared!' She sobs. _

_The shouting in the background gets louder and closer and the door to the room flies open and a figure is thrown in. It hits the floor with a thud and gasps on contact. The boy pushes himself to his knees and spits blood from a split lip onto the floor. He stays kneeling on the floor and leaning on one arm for a few moments, catching his breath. The girl sobs and puts her arms around his neck but he pushes her off and shakes his head, too exhausted to speak. _

_He looks up and stares into the camera._

'_Turn it off Am.' He says, but the girl hesitates._

'_Don't you see?' he continues. 'He's not coming. He's never coming and he never was. He never replies and he doesn't care. We're on our own Amane, but as long as we're together we'll be ok. I promise.'_

'_Ryou…' The girl whispers._

'_Sorry.' He mutters. 'I shouldn't upset you. We'll be fine.' He puts his arms around her and holds her close in a comforting hug. In watching this you wonder when was the last time her was hugged like this; he's the one who needs it._

'_I won't let him hurt you Am. I promise.' _

_The boy tiredly pushes hair out of his eyes and uses one arm to lean on. The focus in his eyes suddenly fades and the arm that he is using to prop himself up suddenly gives way under his little weight and he collapses on the floor. Tears start to drip down his face but he tries to hide them from his sister. Amane watches him sadly and pulls a sheet from the mattress next to him to cover him over. She looks into the camera._

'_Grandpa, save us. Please.' Tears spill over her cheeks and she switches the camera off._

_The date progress a year further. The screen blurs into focus and the Bakura that Joey, Tristan, Tea and Yugi know so well sits glaring into it. This is the year that Bakura started at Domino High. _

_A scratch lines the boy's cheekbone and tears fall freely down his face. _

'_Solomon.' The word cuts through Solomon Motou like a knife; Ryou refuses to call him Grandpa._

'_I hope you're happy Solomon; Amane is dead. You will never hear from me again. I don't care if I have a 'destiny' I don't even care about this…' He picks up the sennen ring and lets it drop to the floor. _

'_Uncle… uncle ran her over in the car. I couldn't do anything. I… she's dead… she's gone…' He breaks down into sobs, his head in his hands._

_Gradually the sobbing subsides and he slowly looks up into the camera screen. He grins malevolently. Yugi gasps; it is the grin used by Zorc when he was controlling Bakura. But this is not Zorc; the hair, the eyes, they're the same. This is Bakura._

_Scratches line his arms, weeping blood. They look fresh, lines across his wrists crossed over old lines, faded and lost. _

'_You have killed her, Solomon. Get me out of here, or I will. And you know exactly how. Then who would save your precious Yugi?' He holds up a razor and drops it into the palm of his hand. He squeezes the razor tightly so that blood runs down his hand, he watches it, his face expressionless, then pushes the hand into the camera, smearing scarlet blood across the screen._

'_Goodbye, and good riddance.' He hisses and the screen turns off._

'Oh my god…' Tea whispered, clapping her hand over her mouth. Joey tried to stop himself vomiting at the sight of the blood and even Tristan was staring at the screen in horror.

'What did he mean by 'then would save your precious Yugi' Grandpa?' Yugi asked. Solomon sighed.

'This is why we need Bakura here.' He said.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Yugi stood and headed for the front door.

'Hey Yoog, where you going?' Joey asked.

'To go get Bakura.' Came the reply, Yugi faced the door with the determined look he usually faced an upcoming duel with. Joey stood and rushed to his side, shortly followed by Tea and eventually Tristan.

Solomon handed Yugi a piece of paper with Bakura's address on it.

'Be careful.' He warned as the group left, leaving Solomon wondering about how his other grandchild would react to the news that he had to deliver.

After a long trip to Bakura's house, mainly down to Tristan's poor navigation skills, the group arrived at the right apartment. Yugi gulped nervously and glanced across at Joey, who watched the door like a hawk. Yugi stepped forwards and reached up, then, realising he was too short to reach the bell; he blushed and stepped down to let Joey try. Joey's fingers brushed the doorbell, but before he could press it, something big and heavy hit the door followed by someone shouting 'Get away from me!' In a very soft British accent

Joey quickly let his hand fall and looked back at Yugi, shocked.

Yugi, Joey, Tristan and Tea rushed to peer through the window. Bakura was thrown into the living room but stood up as soon as he hit the floor. He was followed by a middle-aged man with violet eyes like Yugi's who was brandishing his fists violently.

'You have no right to do this Mitsui!' Bakura shouted, but he backed away as he spoke. The man laughed and stepped forwards. Bakura stepped back. He was cornered against the sideboard. Mitsui punched him hard in the stomach and Bakura doubled over with the force of the blow. Mitsui caught him by the hair, dragging him upright. Bakura grudgingly stood, and was yanked onto his tiptoes by his hair. He looked towards the window and his eyes widened as he saw Yugi peering in.

'What?' His uncle roared. 'What? Is there someone outside the window? Shall I go and have a look?' He shook the boy in his grip roughly. Bakura flopped like a fish caught on a line, struggling to free himself from the vice-like grip.

Yugi gasped and ducked.

'N…No… Just a moth…' He stuttered.

'What was that Boy?' His uncle shouted, giving another vicious shake.

'Just a moth… sir… nothing else. A moth.' Bakura stuttered, raising a hand to his aching head.

Yugi peered over the edge again when the danger was passed.

'A moth…A MOTH?? WHAT WERE YOU LOOKING AT A MOTH FOR?' Screamed Mitsui, slamming Bakura's head into the sideboard.

Bakura fell to the floor, gingerly rubbing the side of his head.

'Nothing sir… nothing…' He whispered.

Mitsui kicked him hard in the ribs.

'Oof…' Bakura gasped, wincing as the foot came into contact with his broken ribs. He tried to stand, but was met by Mitsui's fist, beating him back down. The boy raised his arms in a pathetic attempt to protect his face, screwing up his eyes and wishing for it to stop.

But it never came.

Mitsui stood over him, laughing.

'You're pathetic boy, pathetic!' he sneered and began to head out of the room. Bakura stood slowly and gingerly. Mitsui spun round and punched him in the face. Bakura flew back into the sideboard, and propped himself up using it, leaning on it with his arms and wiping the blood that was streaming from his nose.

'You know what boy?' Mitsui called back as he left the room, 'You're so lucky you're not a girl. Why, if you were female, I'd have raped you by now.'

Bakura sighed and silently thanked whatever God was out there that his sister died before things go too bad.

He pinched the bridge of his nose and checked to see if his uncle was out of ear shot. He hurried to the window and opened it.

'Yugi… what do you want? You shouldn't be here!' Bakura's voice was muffled slightly from pinching his nose.

'Bakura are you alright?' Yugi asked

Joey pushed Yugi out of the way.

'Whoa dude! He was totally laying into you!'

Bakura shrugged, Yugi's head came back into view.

'Grandpa sent us.' He said, 'We've come to get you.'

Bakura's face fell.

'Right… Go and ring the doorbell. I'll be right through. Then we don't need to hide.' He whispered.

'But won't your uncle…' Yugi started.

Bakura looked at him.

'It doesn't matter.' He replied. Bakura closed the window and Yugi stood by the doorstep. Joey rang the bell and shuffled his weight from one foot to the other nervously.

The door opened and Bakura smiled out at the group.

'Who's at the door Boy?' a voice shouted, and Mitsui walked into the hallway. His voice and face softened so he looked almost friendly.

'Ah, you must be the bo… I mean Ryou's friends. Come in, come in…' He looked at Yugi and his mouth twitched into a half smile half sneer as both sets of violet eyes matched. Yugi stared forwards, full of deep hatred for the man. He broke his stare and turned to Bakura, who was still pinching his nose.

'Bakura… your nose… I saw…' He started, but Bakura cut him off.

'Yes. It looks worse than it is. I'm afraid you caught me at a rather bad time. I just fell down the stairs again. I'm ever so clumsy!' He laughed and shot Yugi a backwards glance which suggested 'leave it. Don't mention what you saw.' But Yugi was not giving up that easily.

'Yes, I'm usually quite clumsy too. I suppose it must run in the family.' He said loudly, making sure that Mitsui was listening. Bakura stared at Yugi.

'Solomon told you… and from the way you're looking at uncle… he told you everything…' the albino gasped.

Mitsui laughed and walked back into the corridor to stand next to the boy he was meant to be caring for.

'Ah, you know everything Yugi… In which case, you don't mind if I do this.' Mitsui hissed. On the word 'this', he kicked out, tripping Bakura up and the boy clattered to the floor, lying in a heap at Yugi's feet.

'Very apt boy; lying at the feet of your master.' Mitsui sneered.

'Wha…' gasped Yugi.

'Oh Yugi, don't play games with me… unless… oh, I see my dear buffoon of a father has been trying to 'protect' you from the truth. Very well, let me see if I can clear a few things up. The boy before you lives only to serve you. He may not like it, but that is his duty. You may ask of him anything and he must obey, and one day, one day very soon…' Mitsui brought his face down so it was so close to Yugi's that Yugi could feel and smell the man's warm, rancid breath. '…Very soon, he will die for you.' Mitsui moved back and laughed coldly. Bakura began to drag himself to his feet but was kicked back down. Mitsui walked off, calling to Yugi over his shoulder.

'But come on in Yugi. You've walked a long way; it's only fair that you sit down.' He signalled to the living room and Yugi, Tristan, Tea and Joey hesitantly walked in and sat down. Mitsui clicked his fingers and Bakura jumped to his feet, running into the kitchen to hurriedly prepare drinks.

'Nice place…' commented Joey, trying to break the awkward silence as Bakura clattered into the room with a tray of drinks. His hands were shaking and it caused the tray to rattle, but he was smiling. Possibly as an act, but it made Yugi feel slightly more comfortable at least.

Bakura took a seat next to Tristan on the sofa. His nose had stopped bleeding, but he was limping slightly.

'So… uh… how are you guys?' he asked, and as he spoke Yugi wondered what his cousin really thought of them. Yugi now knew that Bakura's 'I'm fine' smile was an act, but what about his friendliness?

'Bak… I mean, Ryou…' Yugi started. Ryou jumped to hear his name, but then grinned with a smile that couldn't have been faked.

'How long have you known?' Yugi finished.

'Known that we're related and that I have a destiny to fulfil that will ultimately end my life and save yours?' He smiled reassuringly, 'Since your grandfather gave me the sennen ring.' He lent back and winced slightly.

Mitsui called from the hallway, 'Boy, I'm going out. When I get back I don't want to see you here. Yugi, take him back to your grandfather, with this message. Actually, the Boy can deliver the message. Come here boy.' Ryou walked slowly into the hallway, when he entered again, a few minutes later, his sleeve was rolled up and carved along his arm were the words 'I win.' The full stop was a drawing pin which pinned a folded piece of paper. The door slammed and Mitsui had left.

Yugi stared at Bakura's arm.

'That is way outta line!' Joey shouted, rising to his feet angrily. Bakura looked down at his arm and ran a finger along the letters, flinching slightly.

'It looks worse than it is.' He eventually said, and checked out the window to make sure that his uncle wasn't spying on them. But his car had gone so the coast was clear. Bakura breathed a sigh of relief and grinned at Yugi, then fell heavily onto on of the sofas and giggled slightly.

'What are you laughing about?' Yugi asked.

'He's gone, and you're here, and you know everything so I don't have to pretend and and…' The smile faded suddenly and he looked up at Yugi. The next time he spoke, his voice was quiet and shaky.

'Why did you come?'

'Grandpa sent us. He said you'd know why.' Yugi replied. Bakura groaned and slowly sat up, wincing as he put weight on his now injured arm.

'So he didn't tell you why?' he asked.

'Nope. Said it was something to do with you and Yugi winning a battle together or something.' Tristan said.

The colour drained from Bakura's face (which, bearing in mind how pale he was anyway, was quite an achievement.)

'What? Bakura, what's wrong?' Tea asked.

Bakura looked at the floor sadly for a moment, then looked up and smiled.

'It's nothing. Best to save what's for later for later.'

Yugi opened his mouth as if to say something, but then realised that Bakura wasn't going to tell them anything, so decided to change the conversation topic.

'That's a really nice statue.' He said, pointing to a porcelain statue of a ballerina on top of the sideboard. Bakura smiled at it sadly.

'That's my sister.'

Joey looked decidedly confused.

'What?' he asked.

Bakura sighed. 'I take it you know she died? Well, Amane always wanted to be a ballerina, so after she was cremated I saved up all of my money to have her ashes mixed with clay to make a statue of her as a ballerina, so now she's always centre stage, just as she wanted.' He stood up, and walked over to the figurine, lifting it.

'We'd better get going. Your grandfather will be wondering where we've gone.' He said.

'You're taking the ballerina?' asked Tea.

'Yeah. Uncle won't mind. She'll be better respected at your place Yugi.' Bakura muttered, holding the statue delicately as if it were still his sister.

Yugi nodded and they left the apartment to return to the Motou's and to hear what fate had in store for the two cousins.


	5. Chapter 5

Author's note: Before I start this chapter I just wanted to make the point that I am not a cruel and evil person and I'm not creepy at all

_Author's note: Before I start this chapter I just wanted to make the point that I am not a cruel and evil person and I'm not creepy at all. I just realised that I could be considered as a little bit 'off' from the way I've been writing and the fact that my two fanfics so far have been torture fics (my more amusing fics are on Fingolfia's account because I couldn't be bothered to make my own… I also don't type up half of my fics, which include things like when the millennium puzzle became confused and turned Yugi into a frog, and other weird and wonderful things like that.) Sorry if I've scared or worried anyone. _

_On with the fic…_

Chapter 5

It was growing dark as Yugi, Tea, Tristan, Joey and Bakura stumbled through the streets heading back for the Motou's. The group walked in silence, no-one quite sure what to say to each other or what to say. Joey summoned up the courage to open his big mouth.

'So… Bakura… um…' He glanced back and saw Bakura's arm, still with the paper attached.

'Hey, doesn't that hurt?' He said.

'Not really…' Bakura replied, studying his arm carefully.

'We're here' sighed Yugi from the front of the group. Bakura looked up to see the 'Game' shop that he'd always wanted to enter, but had never been allowed. He smiled up at the lettering, even if he was to die, it wouldn't be so bad living here for a bit. While staring up at the words on the shop Bakura noticed something bright out of the corner of his eye. It was the moon. In two nights it would be full, he made a mental note of how many hours that would give him and grinned; he was free for over a full day.

Yugi unlocked the front door and Solomon came to meet them in hallway. Bakura avoided looking at him and placed the ballerina statue gently on the side. He couldn't stop himself smiling with the thought of not having to return home.

'Grandpa… Mitsui left you a message and…' Yugi started

'I can see that.' Remarked Solomon, eyeing the injury on Bakura's arm.

'Ryou come here.' Solomon said quietly. Ryou obeyed and Solomon led him by his uninjured arm into the kitchen. He sat Ryou down on a chair and gently pulled the pin from his arm. Ryou winced and tried to snatch his arm back, Solomon unfolded the piece of paper while Ryou watched him, trying to decipher the poker-straight look on his grandfather's face.

Solomon put the piece of paper on the table and held his head in his hands. Yugi ran forwards to see what was the matter.

'Grandpa… what's wrong?' he said, putting and arm over his grandfather's shoulders. Tea moved closer, looking concerned.

'Mitsui wins.' Solomon sighed. 'But I'm not entirely sure how…'

Yugi looked confused.

'Grandpa… what is this duel that everyone keeps talking about? And why did Mitsui say that Bakura would die for me?'

Bakura silently watched Solomon's face closely for the reaction, half hoping that Solomon would look deeply upset, but he was disappointed; Solomon's face showed no signs of remorse.

Joey, Tristan and Tea stood behind Yugi, desperate for an answer also. Solomon Motou took a deep breath and explained what was due to occur in two night's time.

'There is a duel that Yugi must win in. This opponent is more dangerous and more powerful than any other that Yugi has ever come up against. The duel will be over faster than any you have ever experienced before. Whoever wins the duel wins the soul of the Pharaoh, who, as you now know, is currently weakened, weakened by the very same power that Yugi must face. Yugi must duel without the Pharaoh's help. The duel takes place on the roof of the museum, where the circle of the sunrise is built.'

'So it's just a duel?' Yugi asked, surprised.

'Not quite; life points in this duel are not calculated by a machine, or a counter. They are deducted from the life force of the dueller's slave. In the century we now live in, slavery is not allowed, however, the sennen puzzled has always had one slave; the master of the sennen ring…' Solomon continued.

'Bakura…' Joey, Tristan, Tea and Yugi gasped. Solomon nodded and Bakura smiled nervously.

Solomon nodded. 'Yes. Ryou will stand as Yugi's life points.'

'But… but… that's not fair!' Yugi protested.

Solomon looked down at his feet.

'Anyway, I suggest that you all forget this and spend the next two days as freely as possible. I have written to the school to excuse all of you for a few days, and excusing Ryou for the foreseeable future. Ryou will be staying here; his room is opposite Yugi's.'

'Great Scott!' Bakura exclaimed suddenly. 'I left all my stuff back at the apartment!'

'No worries.' Solomon explained. 'I'll have Mitsui deliver them later.'

'But… won't he…' Joey asked, knowing what Mitsui was capable of.

'No.' Assured Solomon. 'He won't even see Ryou. Ryou, I advise you to try and patch yourself up a bit when we have your belongings. In the meantime, I suggest you go and sort out things in your room. There are clean sheets on the floor, feel free to move anything you want around.'

Bakura grinned; the next couple of days would be great! He scurried off to find the room he would be staying in, leaving Tristan looking at Solomon confused.

'What's he so happy about? I thought you said he was Yugi's life points…'

Solomon laughed 'He's known that most of his life, at the moment all he cares about is the fact that he gets to spend so much time with his friends.'

Joey shuffled uncomfortably, remembering what he and the others had done earlier in the day. From the way that everyone was avoiding each other's eyes; they were all thinking the same thing.

Solomon smiled and hurried the group out of the kitchen into to living room so that he could continue cleaning and phone Mitsui.

Joey flopped onto the sofa and Tristan fell beside him, yawning and picking up the TV remote. Yugi and Tea shared a seat on the other sofa, holding hands.

'I feel kinda bad about the whole diary thing…' Yugi muttered bitterly.

'Me too.' Joey sighed, sinking further into the sofa. 'I guess he's got a reason to be all mopey. He's not that bad a guy.'

There was a general murmur of agreement and a knock on the door; Mitsui had arrived with Bakura's stuff. The group filed into the hallway.

Solomon opened the door and a small bad full of clothes, school books, a camcorder and wash stuff was thrown in. The door slammed and Bakura's head appeared at the top of the stairs.

'Is he gone?' He whispered quietly.

Joey nodded and Bakura grinned, and ran down the stairs. He unzipped the bag and pulled out his school books, wash kit and a selection of clothes. The clothes he sorted through, making a pile of what was to go in his room and what could be hung up downstairs. It didn't take long; he didn't own much.

With the sorting complete, Bakura grabbed the Ballerina figure off the side and ran upstairs with his stuff, preparing to sort it and deciding to take a shower to wash the day off him.

Joey walked over to a coat that Bakura had hung on the coat peg. It was his full length black leather coat as seen towards the end of the groups adventure in Egypt. He took it off the peg and looked at it carefully.

'Whoa… Maybe Bakura's actually cooler than we first thought…' He whispered.

There was a general murmur of agreement around him.

A shout was heard from the bathroom upstairs.

'Yugi, do you have any conditioner? Only I appear to have run out…'

Joey raised an eyebrow.

'I take what I said before back…' he said.

'Its in my cupboard to the left of the sink.' Tea shouted back to Bakura.

Joey gasped.

'So… Tea… you practically live here then?' He teased, winking at Yugi. Tea and Yugi both blushed.

'Wait a sec…' Tea said suddenly, then shouted back up the stairs. 'Bakura! Be careful when you open the cupboard because of the…'

But it was too late. There was a surprised shout from upstairs.

Tea winced. '…for the sanitary towel packs that will fall out on top of you…' she finished quietly, blushing a deeper crimson.

'Uh… thanks anyway Tea!' Bakura shouted politely down the stairs, followed by, 'Ooh! Smells like strawberries!'

'Yeah. That's because it's the new herbal essences limited edition one!' Tea shouted in reply. Then turned round to find everyone else staring at her.

'What?' she asked.

Joey shook his head, and Tristan laughed. Yugi put his arm round Tea's waist (he was too short to reach her shoulders) and smiled up at her.

'I like strawberries…' he commented.

Joey slapped himself in the face. 'Come on Tristan, let them have their moment.' He said dragging Tristan into the living room and flicking through the TV channels.

_Note: Ok, lightening the tone for a bit to add a flavour of humour. I should write more here, but I feel it's important that I update and I have to turn the computer off because it's playing up, so I'm gonna post it as it is. In the end of the next chapter we'll be back on plot, I just want to slow it down so this isn't another fanfiction of mine where everything is crushed together; I want some time for the characters to work together, communicate and just to let everything that's happened so far sink in. So…_

_**TO BE CONTINUED……**_


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Chapter 6

'Hey, I wonder if Bakura wants a drink. I can't hear the water running so he's probably outta the shower and sorting out his stuff.' Joey said as he stood and stretched.

'Why are you being so nice to him suddenly?' Tristan asked, switching the channel to a reality show called 'is this your ear?'

'I guess I just feel a bit guilty still about earlier.' Joey replied, walking into the kitchen and opening the fridge.

'Yo! You reckon he'd like orange juice or apple juice?' He shouted into the living room, picking up the cartons and looking at them.

'It's Bakura, so a cup of tea probably.' Tristan shouted back.

'Right… Milk and sugar?' Joey shouted, switching the kettle on.

'Yeah. Make it two sugars.' Tristan yawned.

'Why two?' Shouted a confused Joey.

'Cuz it'd taste nasty otherwise.' Said Tristan, still watching 'is this your ear?' where a man had just won a large sum of money for guessing which ear from the list of pictures was his. 'Who watches this shit?' Tristan muttered, switching the TV off and scratching behind his ear.

Joey walked out of the kitchen slowly, the cup of tea balanced precariously on a saucer as he carefully made his way up the stairs, passing Tea and Yugi who were walking hand-in-hand into the living room.

Joey reached Bakura's room and knocked on the door with his foot, spilling a drop of the tea onto the carpet.

'Come in.' Bakura said softly.

'I can't! I have no hands free!' Joey half shouted.

There was the sound of footsteps and the door opened. Bakura stood there in his jeans, with no shirt. He had a large threaded wool needle in his mouth and at the end of the wool attached to it was his jumper, held tightly to his side so it wouldn't fall. He had a pin cushion in the other hand.

Joey felt decidedly awkward and shuffled on his feet slightly.

'I…er… I brought you some tea…' he stuttered.

Bakura smiled pleasantly. 'Thank you Joey. That's just what I needed.' He mumbled around the needle. 'I'm just fixing my jumper. It appears to have ripped.' He stood back to let Joey pass into the room. Joey faltered, and then walked in. He was amazed to find the Motou's spare room, which was usually such a tip, so clean and tidy.

Joey placed the tea on the bedside table and sat on the bed.

'So… how are you?' he asked.

Bakura put the pin cushion on the side and pushed the needle through the jumper, then placing the jumper on the floor. He opened his mouth to reply but was cut off.

'Whoa… Dude… how'd you get that?' Joey asked, a look of mild horror across his face. He was staring at the point of Bakura's side where the jumper had been covering. There was a large pale scar, slightly pink and like a massive star that covered the whole of Bakura's side and where two of his ribs would be. Joey noted that these two ribs were missing, probably for the same reasons. Bakura looked down and mentally kicked himself for forgetting momentarily.

'So I'm guessing that's where the light fell on you or something when your house blew up…' Joey said, unable to let it drop. Bakura sighed and nodded tiredly. He wandered over to the dresser and pulled out a blue and white striped tee-shirt which he dragged over his soft, white hair.

'Sorry… Joey muttered.

'No worries.' Bakura replied, smiling his big friendly smile.

'Look… Bakura…' Joey started nervously. 'I'm really sorry about earlier. It was wrong.'

Bakura dropped his head so he was looking at his feet.

'Yeah. I know.' He whispered. Then he brought his head up so he was facing Joey, he beamed at him. 'But that's all over, we're friends now, right?' He asked.

Joey paused. Then smiled and stood up.

'Yeah, friends again.' He said, and then decided to leave Bakura in peace. Bakura picked up his jumper and sat on his bed mending it, stopping periodically to take a drink of tea. He was smiling for real.

Joey wandered into the living room.

'Hey guys! You'll never guess what!'

'What?' Came the half alive monotone reply.

'Bakura has a really massive scar across his side…' Joey continued.

Yugi and Tea, who were squashed into a single-seat chair, shrugged and continued to watch whatever reality TV show they were watching. Tristan lazily raised and eyebrow and moved his eyes to look at Joey. 'So that's what you were up to up there…'

Joey looked confused for a second, and then his eyes widened 'No! That's not it at all!' He shouted, running to behind the sofa Tristan was sitting on and yanking his hair up and down, making his whole forehead rise and fall. Joey shouted continuous abuse at Tristan who was mock-sobbing in pain. Yugi and Tea looked briefly over to their fighting friends and then turned back to the TV.

Bakura appeared in the doorway. He paused for a moment as he saw Joey and Tristan's fighting and then smiled amusedly. He moved silently into the room and took the chair closest to the door.

'What are we watching?' he enquired.

Exhausted, Joey stopped attacking Tristan and hit him playfully around the head to finish.

'Nothing interesting.' He said, and then flopped on the sofa next to Tristan and looked disapprovingly at Yugi and Tea who were apparently playing tonsil-tennis on the next sofa. He sighed and changed the channel, but there was nothing worth watching.

'Do I have to throw cold water on you two?'

The couple separated and Yugi blushed and scratched the back of his head embarrassed.

'Sorry.' He mumbled.

'I didn't know you two were finally dating…Congratulations!' Bakura said.

All eyes fell upon him and the room was suddenly caught in silence.

'You… you didn't?' Tristan asked.

Bakura shook his head and his white hair moved slightly over his shoulders.

'Oh…' Tea murmured, surprised.

'They've only been dating for several months!' Joey exclaimed, winking at Yugi. 'Oh… but I guess you were possessed for a lot of that, hey.' He added.

'Yeah, I guess so…' Bakura replied.

'Oh, and before you ask, they are sleeping tog…' Joey started, grinning strangely, but he was cut off when a cushion which was thrown by Tea hit him in the face.

'Murfump!' Joey protested through a mouthful of cushion.

Tea made a 'humpf' sound and turned her nose up to the ceiling, Yugi went a never-seen-before shad of bright scarlet.

'Sl… Sl… Sleeping together?' Bakura whispered, turning red.

Joey threw the cushion off him.

'Yeah… It's what people do when they're dating. Right Yoog?' Joey said, nudging Yugi, who somehow went a brighter red.

'No they don't…' Bakura whispered, still blushing.

Everyone turned to look at him.

'Oh?' said Joey, now clearly confused.

'Riiiight!' Tea exclaimed suddenly. 'You're one of the people who doesn't believe in sex _(Bakura turned a colour that almost challenged Yugi) _until marriage! Aw that's so cute!' Tea got up suddenly, knocking Yugi off the chair, and ran the short distance across the room to hug Bakura tightly. Bakura gasped and doubled over as Tea's arms bumped into the bruising and breaks over his ribcage. Tea withdrew quickly.

'Oh right, sorry.' She said.

Bakura made a hissing noise through his teeth as he drew a quick intake of breath. Drops of sweat appeared on his forehead and he sat up slowly.

'Bakura! Are you ok?' Tea exclaimed, taking a step forwards.

'Like you care. You have no idea…' Bakura whispered under his breath, thankfully no-one heard him.

'What?' Joey asked.

Bakura looked up and forced a smile. 'I said I'm ok. I think I just need to get to bed, if that's ok? It's getting late and I'm very tired.'

He stood up shakily and walked out of the room, watched carefully by everyone else. Once out of view of the people in the living room, Bakura collapsed by the stairs, supporting his weight on the railing and breathing heavily. Drops of sweat appeared on his forehead and he breathed heavily, trying to catch his breath and waiting for the pain to subdue so he could get up the stairs. Solomon was leaving the kitchen and walked past Bakura.

'Ryou…' he whispered, reaching a hand out to comfort the boy. Bakura pushed the hand away.

'I'm fine. I don't need your help.' He hissed. It was hard to tell whether this was intended menacingly or whether it just sounded vicious because it was forced through teeth clenched to manage the pain and prevent him crying out. Either way, Solomon felt a pang of guilt as he withdrew the offered hand.

'Goodnight Ryou.' He said quietly.

"Night.' Came the reply as Bakura started to make his way slowly up the stairs. Solomon continued into the living room and sat in the chair Bakura was sitting in.

'I guess he's hurt more than we think…' Joey said, kicking back into the sofa with his arms crossed behind his head.

Solomon looked worried, 'You never know what's going on with that boy…' He whispered, staring straight ahead.

'And fair enough. I mean, not many people would take him seriously if he told them.' Yugi commented. Solomon nodded slowly.

'Shouldn't he be in the hospital?' Tristan asked.

'He went.' Replied Solomon. 'When he thought he might have broken something, and believe me, I think he knows better than most when he's broken a bone of some description. He went to the hospital and had an X-ray. There's not much you can do about broken ribs, and it wasn't a bad break or anything, didn't need surgery. But they couldn't prescribe painkillers because he's allergic to them, and most other medication… Oh yeah, I know, I was meant to have signed him completely over to Mitsui, but I make sure I know when he goes into hospital, in case I can do something. And yes, surprisingly I may just be a shop owner, but I am legally allowed to practise medicine on Ryou. Yet another loophole in the law and the ancient rites.' Solomon smiled bitterly. He looked at the clock, midnight.

'Right you lot, bed, now, Joey, Tea, Tristan, you're staying here until the end of the week. Don't think you're doing nothing tomorrow; you might not be in school, but I'll have you getting through the work you've missed.'

There was a unanimous groan, and the small group trailed up to bed, with Yugi pausing to kiss his grandfather on the cheek.

'Night Grandpa.'

'Night Yugi.' Solomon smiled and turned on the TV.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Chapter 7

'One whole day to waste. Let's make the most of it.' Joey smirked, falling back into the sofa.

It was 11 o'clock in the morning the day before Yugi's big duel. Tristan had just woken up and was lying half-asleep across one of the chairs. Yugi was eating toast and Tea had a glass of orange juice. Solomon was working the front of the shop as always and Bakura was reading the paper.

'Great Scott!' He exclaimed suddenly.

'What?' Yugi said through a mouthful of toast.

"A mystery cloaked man has been seen stealing rare and expensive cards from duellists all over the world!" Bakura read aloud.

Joey shrugged. 'So?'

'But this is awful!' Bakura said, setting the paper down.

'It's happened before. Marik, Bandit Keith when he was a puppet, Kaiba, Pegasus to some extent and you when you were possessed. Not to mention several other smaller figures.' Yugi replied.

'Ah, but Yugi… they weren't wearing cloaks…' Joey said jokingly.

'Well, some of them were…' protested Yugi.

Tristan yawned, 'yeah, what is it with bad guys and wearing cloaks anyway?' he said.

'I fear you may be missing the point… a card thief is not good news, especially with Yugi's duel tomorrow.' Bakura explained.

'Look, no offence Bakura, but with Yugi's duelling record, the cloaked figure is most likely his next opponent anyway.' Joey said, stealing a piece of toast from Yugi's plate. This action was followed by an annoyed squeal from Yugi.

'That's true.' Tea agreed.

Joey sat forwards and clapped his hands together once. 'So… what are we going to do today?'

'We could get some work done seeing as we are missing a few days…' Bakura suggested.

'Nah. Grandpa was going to set us some work to do later anyway.' Yugi replied.

'Party time!' Joey shouted, getting up to push Tristan onto the floor and then turning the CD player on, and cranking the volume up to full.

Bakura put his hands over his ears, trying not to be deafened. 'Actually… I think I'll go and sit outside and do the puzzle page of the newspaper.' He attempted to shout over the din, but no-one could hear. Instead he picked up the paper and hurried out of the room, leaving the rest to suffer Tristan's appalling dance moves.

Fifteen minutes later the CD player was switched off and people flopped onto the chairs in the room.

'What are we going to do now?' Joey shouted over the ringing in his ears.

Yugi shrugged.

Bakura came back in carrying maths books and paper.

'Your grandfather told me to give everyone one.' He said, passing the books around.

'He's your grandfather too.' Yugi remarked.

Bakura sighed, and rubbed his still aching chest, choosing not to reply.

The group tiredly settled down to working the day away, stopping periodically for lunch or to flick a pencil across the room.

Finally it was late evening and the group stopped. Although they had been 'working' solidly for many hours, there was very little work done, with the exception of Bakura who had finished the maths book and was reading.

'Tomorrow's the big day! Excited Yugi?' Joey said, nudging Yugi. Yugi grinned. 'Yeah!' he said, high-fiving Joey.

Bakura glanced up from his book and then looked down again. The words on the pages suddenly became meaningless to him, the letters had become a blurry scrawl that he could not decipher. He stood and excused himself before tiredly leaving the room.

'Oops… I forgot he was in trouble…' Joey said, turning to Yugi.

'Um… yeah, I'll go see if he's ok in a moment. I just need a drink.' Yugi said and wandered into the kitchen and poured himself a glass of juice. He drank it slowly and then placed it on the side as he headed towards Bakura's bedroom. He stopped halfway down the upstairs corridor, hearing the clatter or metal on ceramic and someone cursing softly. He smiled, 'Oh gosh-darn it!' could hardly be considered as cursing, but still. He knocked politely on the bathroom door.

'Hey, Bakura, you alright?' He called in.

The door opened slightly and Bakura peered through the gap.

'Is there a problem?' He enquired.

'I dunno.' Yugi replied. 'Are you ok?'

'I'm fine thank you.' Bakura lied.

'So why'd you open the door so quickly? If you were showering or whatever, you wouldn't do that…' Yugi pointed out.

Bakura faltered. 'I… er… well… I just wanted some time to think and this is the only room with a lock on the door.'

'So why'd you open it when I knocked?' Yugi challenged.

Defeated, Bakura let the door swing open.

'I don't know.' He sighed.

'Well, we're downstairs if you need us or if you want to talk or anything.' Yugi chirped cheerfully as he left. Bakura raised a hand, about to stop him, then thought better of it and let his arm drop. He wanted to talk, he really did. He wanted to get everything off his chest, but he didn't want to get in the way.

Bakura turned round and walked to the sink. He glanced down at the bloodied razor in the sink and turned on the taps to rinse the blood away. He winced as his chest hurt again suddenly, and leant on the taps. He stared straight ahead into the mirror in front of him and watched, stony-faced, as his reflection stared back. White hair fell around his shoulders and tears started to pool in his eyes. He looked down at his right fore arm and shook his head angrily, then rinsed it off and took a medical kit from the cupboard, bandaging his arm tidily. He pulled his sleeve down to hide the marks, and then, satisfied that no-one would figure it out. He closed the door so that he could tidy up and get ready for bed. He needed rest for tomorrow.

Yugi had reached the bottom of the stairs and entered the living room.

'He alright?' Joey asked, paying more attention to the television than to the question or even it's answer.

'Yeah, he seems it.' Yugi replied sitting on the sofa next to Joey. 'What's on?' he asked. Joey shrugged and handed him the remote. Yugi carelessly flicked through the channels, and then turned the TV off; there was nothing worth watching.

'It's getting late.' Tristan commented.

'Nine o'clock cannot be considered as 'late' Tristan!' Yugi exclaimed.

Tristan looked down embarrassed, 'It is when you've got a long day tomorrow… or school…'

Joey stifled a giggle at his friend's expense.

'I suppose you have a point.' Yugi yawned. 'And besides, I am pretty sleepy.' He began to head for the stairs, and climbed them slowly. When he reached the top he noticed that Bakura's lights were off, so he decided to tread extra quietly in case his cousin was sleeping.

After trying the bathroom door, it became apparent that Solomon was getting ready for bed, so Yugi returned to his room and sat cross-legged on his quilt, studying his deck and choosing the cards for tomorrow's duel.

There was a knock on his door, and Yugi looked up. Bakura stood in the doorway, the landing light behind him set his pale hair off, making it look almost angelic.

'Yugi…' He whispered. 'Ca… can we talk?'

'Huh?' Yugi said, confused. 'Yeah… sure… what about?'

'Tomorrow.'

'Oh. Right. Yeah, I've just prepared my deck, I think it's strong enough.' Yugi smiled.

'I hope so…' Bakura replied, attempting a smile back.

'What's up?' Yugi asked, clearly there was something bothering Bakura.

'I… I'm scared.' Bakura admitted.

'Yeah. Me too.' Yugi agreed.

'I don't want to die…' Ryou chocked.

'Wha?' Yugi was startled. 'You're no going to die!'

'I'm not sure I'm strong enough.' Bakura said bitterly. 'I'm not sure I can do this.'

'But you have to! You can't back out! Think of everything we'll lose!'

'No, I won't back out, but I'm not sure I can do this.'

Yugi wasn't sure what Bakura meant.

'Did you just come in here to voice the fact that you're scared? Because that's not exactly filling me with confidence…' Yugi bristled, he was starting t get angry.

'No.'

Yugi looked up into Bakura's eyes, confused. Bakura was stalling, there was clearly something that he wanted to do or say, but he was having second thoughts.

'So what do you want?' Yugi asked directly.

Bakura shuffled slightly.

'I… er… I wanted to say goodluck.' He smiled openly.

Yugi raised an eyebrow. Bakura's face fell; Yugi wasn't falling for it.

'And I wanted to give you this.' Bakura finished, handing over a card. 'Put it in your deck, and don't be afraid to use it. Please. It might let you win this.'

Yugi took the card without looking at it, wondering how one card could win a duel. He placed the card in his deck ad shuffled it well.

'Thanks Bakura. And I'm sure everything will be ok tomorrow. It can't be that bad.' He smiled trying to install some confidence in both himself and his cousin.

Bakura smiled without meaning it, and left silently, closing the door to his room as he entered.

Tomorrow would be a horrible day, but after that, he'd be free. He fell onto his bed and buried his face in his pillow, forcing himself not to cry and eventually falling into a hot, sticky, nightmare-filled sleep.


End file.
